Activity rhythms in female montane voles (Microtus montanus)

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 1071-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol N. Rowsemitt
Keyword(s):  
Adult Male ◽  
Seasonal Changes ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Short Photoperiod ◽  
Diurnal Activity ◽  
Running Wheel ◽  
Microtus Montanus ◽  
Microtine Rodents ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Long Photoperiod

Seasonal changes in activity patterns have been reported in several species of arvicoline (= microtine) rodents in the wild. Adult male montane voles (Microtus montanus) shift from predominantly nocturnal running wheel use under long photoperiod to predominantly diurnal running wheel use under short photoperiod. Under the same conditions, females also increase diurnal activity under short photoperiod. However, females display more variability in activity patterns under long photoperiod than do males.

Redefining the activity pattern of the honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus).

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Arrese ◽  
PB Runham
Keyword(s):  
Activity Pattern ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Diurnal Activity ◽  
Numerous Species ◽  
Daytime Activity ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Australian Marsupial ◽  
Diurnal Species ◽  
Honey Possum

ANIMALS are commonly separated into two major categories based on their activity patterns: diurnal and nocturnal. However, evidence of numerous species exhibiting diverse periods of activity, including arhythmic and crepuscular habits, broadens the description. The honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus), a small West-Australian marsupial feeding exclusively on nectar and pollen, has been described as strongly nocturnal (Wooller et al. 1981; Russell and Renfree 1989). However, infrequent daytime activity in captivity (Russell 1986) and in the wild under cold, cloudy conditions, has been reported (Hopper and Burbidge 1982; du Plessis and du Plessis 1995). During trapping exercises in the region of Jurien Bay (250 km north of Perth, Western Australia), several animals were observed foraging after sunrise and before sunset, with occasional diurnal activity. To date, no study has investigated directly the activity periods of the species. Furthermore, studies of the visual capabilities of T. rostratus revealed that its retinal organisation is not compatible with a nocturnal lifestyle, but presents features comparable to those found in diurnal species (Arrese 2002; Arrese et al. 2002). Such discrepancies warranted the monitoring of activity periods (rhythmicity) of T. rostratus in its natural environment, a study reported here. We discuss our results in the context of the visual ecology of the species.

scholarly journals As clear as day: nocturnal activity differs from diurnal activity in a temporally constrained capital breeder

Behaviour ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 156 (10) ◽  
pp. 997-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe L. Fraser ◽  
Ross M. Culloch ◽  
Sean D. Twiss
Keyword(s):  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Video Camera ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Implicit Assumption ◽  
Diurnal Activity ◽  
Nocturnal Activity ◽  
Activity Budgets ◽  
Time Activity ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
In The Wild

Abstract Time-activity budgets are fundamental to behavioural studies, allowing examination of how individuals allocate their time, and potentially energy, and how these patterns vary spatially and temporally and in relation to habitat, individual identity, sex, social status and levels of anthropogenic disturbance. Direct observations of animal behaviour, especially in the wild, are often limited to daylight hours; therefore, many activity budgets relate to diurnal activity only, or assumptions are made about nocturnal activity. Activity budgets have been a key component of many behavioural and energetics studies of breeding grey seals (Halichoerus grypus, Fabricius, 1791), and yet very little is known about nocturnal activity of grey seals, and a general, implicit assumption of no significant change from day to night seems to pervade the literature. Here we use a combination of high resolution digital video and thermal imaging video camera to follow known individual grey seal mothers from day into night to examine activity patterns during lactation. We show distinct differences in nocturnal activity budgets relative to diurnal activity budgets. Mothers spent significantly more time resting with a reduction of time spent in the alert and comfort move behavioural categories during nocturnal periods. It is clear that diurnal time-activity patterns of breeding female grey seals cannot be extrapolated to represent activity across a 24-hour cycle. These considerations are particularly critical in studies that aim to use time-activity budgets as proxies for energy budgets.

Minimising waste through bioenergetically and behaviourally based feeding strategies

1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Thorpe ◽  
C. Young Cho
Keyword(s):  
Feeding Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Physico Chemical ◽  
Evolutionary Features ◽  
Feeding Regimes ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Genetically Determined

Most species in aquaculture are new to cultivation and so behave like wild animals. They are products of evolution, with adaptations to specific habitat conditions. In the wild, food is not available uniformly throughout the day or the year, or in space, and rarely exceeds the fishes needs. Competition is energetically expensive, reducing growth efficiency. Consequently, feeding activity patterns have evolved, implying internal appetite rhythms, which optimise food intake under these various constraints. Salmonids can adapt quickly to short term variation in food availability, but show seasonal genetically determined anorexia. Rational feeding regimes in culture should take all such features into account. When appetite is high naturally, food should be presented so that it is economically indefensible - where every individual can eat, and where fighting does not pay. At periods of anorexia it will be prudent to offer no food. Manufacturers' feed tables are usually regimes devised to meet the bioenergetic needs of fishes, as they are understood in a physico-chemical sense. While useful first approximations, they do not take into account these evolutionary features of the fishes, and can lead to waste. Methods of presentation are described which allow the fish to determine when food shall be available, and in ways which, by diminishing the advantages of social dominance, ensure relatively even opportunities to feed for all individuals in the population. Allowing the fish to set the time-table reduces the likelihood of waste.

scholarly journals Probability of pregnancy before ninety days postpartum in water buffaloes

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-34
Author(s):  
Hector Nava-Trujillo ◽  
Robert Valeris-Chacin ◽  
Adriana Morgado-Osorio ◽  
Javier Hernández ◽  
Janeth Caamaño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Water Buffalo ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Short Photoperiod ◽  
Water Buffaloes ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Log Odds ◽  
First 90 Days ◽  
Long Photoperiod

This study aimed to determine the effect of parity and season of calving on the probability of water buffalo cows becoming pregnant before 90 days postpartum. A retrospective analysis of reproductive records of 1,465 water buffaloes with 3,181 pregnancies was carried out. Buffaloes were grouped according to parity in one, two, or three and more calvings. Season of calving was created with the following values: long photoperiod (March-August) and short photoperiod (September-February) and predicted probabilities from the mixed-effects logistic regression model were calculated, and a generalized linear mixed model was fitted with random intercepts to calculate the log odds of becoming pregnant ≤90 days postpartum. The probability of pregnancy ≤90 days postpartum was 0.3645, and this was lower in primiparous (0.2717) in comparison with two-calved (0.3863) and three or more calving buffaloes (0.5166). Probability of pregnancy ≤90 days postpartum increased 1.77 odds by each increase in parity. The probability of becoming pregnant ≤90 days postpartum was higher in water buffaloes calving during the short photoperiod season (0.4239 vs. 0.2474, P>0.000), and water buffaloes calving during the long photoperiod season only had 0.2645 odds to become pregnant than those calving during the short photoperiod season. The negative effect of long photoperiod was observed indifferently of parity. In conclusion, primiparity and the long photoperiod affect water buffalo cow's reproductive performance, decreasing pregnancy probability during the first 90 days postpartum.

scholarly journals Effects of Environmental Variables on some Physiological Responses of Microtus montanus Under Natural Conditions

1982 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 66-68
Author(s):  
Aelita Pinter
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variables ◽  
National Park ◽  
Reproductive Activity ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Microtus Montanus ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Microtine Rodents ◽  
Different Seasons

Cyclic fluctations in the popu]ation density of rnicrotine rodents have been known since antiquity. However, factors responsible for this phenomenon are not known. The objectives of this long term study are essentially threefold: 1. characterize those environmental variables that might affect Microtus montanus in different seasons of the year; 2. record the growth, maturation and reproductive activity of the voles under natural conditions; and 3. determine the maturational, as well as, the seasonal pelage changes of these rodents. The data resulting from the execution of the above objectives would be correlated in an attempt to determine the causes undedying the multiannual fluctuations in the population density of these microtine rodents in Grand Teton National Park.

Diurnal activity patterns of coypu in an urban habitat

2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jork Meyer ◽  
Nicole Klemann ◽  
Stefan Halle
Keyword(s):  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Urban Habitat ◽  
Diurnal Activity

Observations on Activity Patterns, Population and Den Characteristics of The Water Rat Hydromys chrysogaster Along Badger Creek, Victoria.

1995 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
J.L. Gardner ◽  
M. Serena
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Fish Farms ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Irrigation Channels ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Hydromys Chrysogaster

The Water Rat Hydromys chrysogaster is Australia's largest amphibious rodent, occupying freshwater rivers, lakes, and coastal and estuarine habitats throughout the continent (Watts and Aslin 1981). Little is known of the species' social organisation or use of space in the wild although Harris (1978) suggested that adults might be intrasexually aggressive. The home ranges of all sex and age classes overlap to some extent but home ranges of adults of the same sex appear to overlap less (Harris 1978). Adult males occupy the largest home ranges which overlap those of one or more females. In captivity individuals kept in groups form hierarchies in which only the dominant females usually breed successfully (Olsen 1982). Fighting occurs primarily among males, with the highest incidence of injuries observed at the beginning of the main September-March breeding season (Olsen 1980, 1982). The results of trapping studies indicate that population density may vary considerably, with the greatest numbers of animals typically occupying man-modified habitats such as irrigation channels or fish farms (McNally 1960, Watts and Aslin 1981, Smales 1984). Aggressive behaviour appears to be related to pelage colour (phenotype) and population density; the higher the density the greater the number of injured individuals (Olsen 1980).

Photoperiodic Control of Diapause Induction in the Larva of Lucilia Caesar L. (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

1967 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-122
Author(s):  
R. A. RING
Keyword(s):  
Direct Effect ◽  
Diapause Induction ◽  
Short Photoperiod ◽  
Photoperiodic Control ◽  
One Stage ◽  
Photoperiod Regime ◽  
Absolute Length ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Diapause Incidence ◽  
Long Photoperiod

1. It has been shown that photoperiod has a direct effect on the larva of Lucilia casear L. in the induction of diapause. 2. Transference of larvae from long to short photoperiod conditions during the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd instar increases their tendency to enter diapause. Conversely, transfer from short to long photoperiod conditions decreases their tendency to enter diapause. 3. Larvae are sensitive to changes in the absolute length of the photoperiod during all instars. The reaction is not restricted to any one stage but tends to be cumulative; thus the earlier the larvae are transferred from one photoperiod regime to another then the greater the contrast in diapause incidence between experimental groups and controls.

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